Chapter 3
Rage
I didn’t have the level of patience needed to tame a fucking female.
Not tonight.
Not when there was a more than decent chance either Borgata soldiers or a cackling crew of Night Dwellers was about to transcend on the six of us. Six. Six fucking huge ass Savages to take down one woman. I’d thought it ridiculous.
I’d been advised otherwise.
How long and how far had we traveled over rough, dangerous terrain to hunt this woman?
Weeks of enduring birds the size of prehistoric creatures, lions weighing over two thousand pounds, and other animals forever altered into flesh-eating freaks of nature.
Let alone the number of Dwellers we’d encountered and killed.
But here she was, much more talented in the act of battle than she’d been given credit for or that I’d believed.
The woman was fearless, capable in the art of fighting. She’d also managed to start a fire. How?
Wrath knew what I thinking, studying the smoldering embers. I’d heard of such skills, pyrokinetics rare.
A deep breath allowed the only indication that the woman felt anything but animosity and anger. She’d proven to be formidable already, cunning in her abilities in both knowing the safe zones within the city and her use of weapons.
The Savages behind me were tense, the noise from those we intended on executing as annoying as the standoff the woman was offering. She had no intention of backing down. For whatever reason, I took a deep whiff, which had been a small part of how we’d found her.
Her incredible scent.
Females carried a natural smell that transcended dirt and blood, sweat and urine. Warm. Intoxicating.
And highly addictive.
Perhaps I’d believed she’d cower in terror, yielding to us without a fight. I’d been very wrong. She stood with a smirk on her face, eager to engage in a fight. Her scent of arousal was all about besting her opponent.
It was rare to find one so capable, every action taken calculated. The way she’d slaughtered the group of Night Dwellers had been a joy to watch. She’d managed to slip away, which had delayed our arrival. Now it was obvious she wouldn’t be easy to handle.
I had my doubts we would have gotten this close if it hadn’t been for discovering her weakness.
She had a sense of humanity. Rescuing the child and the animal could have been her ultimate downfall.
Only we’d been tasked to ensure nothing happened to her.
And to take her to safety. The reason was still unclear, but I owed the people responsible for saving my life as well as several of my companions payment in return.
While I’d been told that she was special, I hadn’t anticipated either her ferocity or her beauty. I didn’t care about the reason we were here, the task we were given. We followed orders. That didn’t mean I wasn’t annoyed.
Something had stirred deep within me, a hunger I couldn’t understand.
She’d tried very hard to hide her femininity, her hair stuffed under a cap, nondescript clothing in black an attempt to disguise her figure. Given her height, only those close enough to see her features would even notice how young and vulnerable she was.
Strangely enough, it had been years since my sense of attraction had been activated. The scientist in charge of the project had told me desire was only to be used as a tool and not as pleasure.
Today, I was questioning his judgment as much as I was my own.
“You heard me,” she growled. “Get away or I will kill you.”
Vicious laughed, the sound carrying. Which she didn’t like.
She jerked away, almost stumbling in her effort to gain some distance between us. But instead of running, she reached behind her head, grabbing her sword. I’d watched her in action, admiring her level of skill. She’d been taught well, something we’d all been warned about.
Her innate hatred of Savages had also been proclaimed. Given the lengths most Savages had gone to just to survive and keep from being sent to the Exile Games, I couldn’t blame her.
We were different, but she didn’t know to what extent.
The woman was prepared to use the sword even though she was heinously outnumbered.
I’d enjoy watching her attempt to escape if there wasn’t the issue of dealing with the danger from the other Savages, rogues more than soldiers.
Yes, I understood why. Everything they’d been promised had been a lie, our kind left to face the fallout of a broken government who’d lost their way.
However, they’d picked on the wrong person to use for promised freedom, which wouldn’t come, only imprisonment after bringing her to the person responsible for hiring them in the first place.
I allowed a low growl to rumble in my chest in way of warning.
She couldn’t care less, shifting her gaze from me to my companions with a snort. Maybe she didn’t understand that she was outnumbered. More likely, she just didn’t care. She should. She should fear everything around her.
It was a dog-eat-dog world after all, loyalty bought and paid for instead of earned.
I knew her name. We all did. We’d been given as much information as was known about her.
Why she was important to the cause simply didn’t matter.
What my gut told me was that she would be used as a bargaining chip.
What I didn’t like was the thought of her being used or interrogated by the Resistance.
Whatever she might know or whoever she was hiding was important enough we’d risked exposing the most important place on the planet. What I knew was that at this point, she should be considered the enemy.
It wasn’t my place to question why.
Still, with the understanding in mind, my body’s reaction to her had come close to blindsiding me. The way my heart thudded in my chest. The way my blood surged through my veins.
My own arousal was close to matching hers, but for an entirely different reason.
When she swung the sword, not to kill but as a warning, she had a smile on her face. Perhaps that worked with the stupid bastards controlling this city, but not with me. Within seconds, I had her pinned to the wall, one hand wrapped around the arm holding the sword.
“I will fucking kill you,” she hissed and with every movement in trying to escape, she learned how attracted to her I’d become. Once she did, her eyes opened wide and a single drag of her tongue across her bottom lip kept my attention.
Enough so I lowered my head, the undeniable longing becoming a problem.
“Rage,” Wrath said under his breath, a warning that we had little time.
She laughed while tilting her head until our lips were almost touching. I couldn’t remember another time I’d experienced such extreme hunger.
“Don’t,” she hissed in a low and steady voice, no quaver highlighting fear. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Hurt?” I threw out, laughing as I did. Her lips were so close, I could almost taste her.
The lingering moment was one the others couldn’t stand.
“Rage,” Vicious added while stepping closer.
She pressed her other hand against my chest, daring to tease the beast by rubbing her fingers up and down. “Yes, I could hurt you. Is that what you want?”
Unable to resist either her or the moment, I fisted her hair, tilting her chin even more. “Give it your best shot.”
A series of unearthly growls as the other beasts made it across the rails was a reminder that toying with her was as dangerous as everything else.
She chuckled in a low and seductive voice, not even triggered by the ugly creatures’ approach. “Gladly.” The shift in her body was quick and easy. So was the push to break our connection and the knee she shoved into my groin.
My hold was broken, the female pulling away by several feet and prepared to use her weapon however necessary.
The other bastards were mere feet behind.
As soon as she lifted the sword, glancing at me then at the approaching men, I grabbed the weapon from her hand.
“Allow me.”
Perhaps she was shocked my actions had been so bold, even more so by the gasp when I turned and lunged toward the bastards determined to finish their mission even with six Savages standing in their way.
I swung from one side to the other, catching two with ease.
As their heads shot off the platform onto the track, their deaths became a signal to the others to engage.
Spilling blood had never affected me. Even the anguished cries of those still succumbing to the aftermaths of the war had never summoned any emotion.
But her sharp cry, which was more about enjoying the beheadings than anything else, affected me.
I struck again, driving the blade into another, even wishing there were more. I was in the mood to destroy things, which always eased the discomfort. Not tonight. We’d hunker down in the safe zone we’d created until morning’s light.
There was no real battle, the last two falling quickly, but as soon as Vicious pushed the last onto the track, Wrath laughed, less out of annoyance and more out of knowing how I’d react. “We underestimated the woman.”
I snapped my head in his direction, immediately realizing why.
“She’s gone,” he added, nodding down the platform. “You were too busy playing hero.”
After lowering the bloody blade, I scanned the area, although I knew exactly where she was going.
“We have our hands full with her. Or maybe with you as well,” Vicious said as he approached.
“Damn,” I said, exhaling. She was cunning.
“While all that might be true, there is activity at the Empire. The heat seeker picked up a large group heading out.” Wrath quirked his eyebrow.
“How many?” I swung my head in his direction.
“More than two dozen.”
With a slow and steady hiss, I’d glared into the darkness.
The Empire, the location where the Borgata leaders and their whores maintained a residence.
Their corrupt world had been duly noticed by all those traveling the area.
They only ventured out at night if there was much to gain from doing so.
The technology we carried alone was worth the danger.
“Then we need to hurry. The female will not be captured by them. Understood?”
“You think they’re after her?” Blade asked.